Jay-Z NOT Secretly Gay, Despite Ridiculous Speculation

Truth rating: 0

By
Shari Weiss | 10:30 am, August 21, 2017

(Getty Images)

Jay-Z is not secretly gay, despite a ridiculous story from a certain webloid. The article, which has homophobic undertones, mocks the rapper for “prancing,” and insinuates that he’s hiding his true sexuality.

This absurdity comes from MediaTakeOut, which blares in a headline, “Jay Z Is Spotted Out In LONDON… And His Movements Are Looking REAL FEMININE… If We Didn’t KNOW ANY BETTER…” Underneath a photoshopped picture of the performer’s face in front of the colors of the gay pride flag, the site writes, “Jay Z was spotted out PRANCING out of a London club. He seemed to be really… what’s another word for HAPPY?” The implied word, of course, is “gay.”

And the assertions that Jay-Z was “prancing” and “looking real feminine” are based on nothing more than paparazzi photos of the superstar, who appears to be laughing and waving. Making an inference about his sexual orientation like this based on the two snapshots can hardly be considered journalism. Rather, it’s an offensive way of stereotyping and judging people, with the outlet making assumptions and jumping to conclusions. Furthermore, this piece, although brief, is written in such a derogatory way that suggests it’s something bad if, in fact, Jay-Z was “prancing” and “looking real feminine.” It also suggests that one can’t be straight and also feminine.

MediaFakeOut, as it’s known due to its predilection for publishing misleading and false stories, also has a history of wrongly branding, or at least implying, straight black male stars are gay, and portraying such a thing as a negative if it were to be true. Most recently, the outlet accused Drake of trying to send a “gay subliminal message” because of his Lil Wayne tattoo. Prior to that, the online publication speculated Drake and The Weeknd were a secret gay couple, and nearly a year ago, it was alleged Drake’s relationship with Rihanna was a cover-up for his supposed homosexuality.

In addition, in 2015 MTO proclaimed that no one could “convince us that singer John Legend is straight” simply because he wore makeup for a television appearance. Similarly, that same year the site asked if Nick Young was gay just because he and a “male companion” went shopping together. In every case, the outlet’s assertions about these stars’ sexuality were not only wrong, but they were also written in a way that suggested it would be bad if they actually were gay. MediaFakeOut seems to have a problem with both accuracy and homophobia.